Joe Leydon

By: MIKE TENNEY, Sports Writer

Published 7:00 pm, Tuesday, September 2, 2003

Call this Spade a late bloomer

In real life, David Spade may be an affable, easygoing sweetheart. In his film and TV work, however, he has specialized in playing fey know-it-alls who delight in spewing venomous sarcasm. And because hes been so convincing, so often, at playing basically unlikable people well, he isnt terribly easy to like, even when the audience is supposed to have a rooting interested in his character.

The good news is, Spade obviously recognized this problem and more important, found a way to turn it to his advantage while preparing the script for Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, a surprisingly satisfying comedy in which he plays the title role. Working in concert with director Sam Weisman and co-writer Fred Wolf, he craftily overcomes any possible audience hostility toward his character, or himself, by repeatedly causing physical pain or excruciating embarrassment for Dickie.

As a precocious 5-year-old scene-stealer on a 70s TV sitcom, little Dickie Roberts was a much-loved mini-icon with his very own trademark catchphrase that, all things considered, probably isnt reprintable in a family newspaper. ##M:(full story)## As a 35-year-old has-been, however, Dickie is a D-list actor who chronically stews over his long-stalled career while working as a valet parker at a Hollywood restaurant.

Dickies eccentric affectations he constantly wears gloves to protect against infections are holdovers from his misspent youth with a boozy stage mother (Doris Roberts). And his pathetic attempts at re-capturing yesterdays glory such as a celebrity boxing matchup with a brutal Emmanuel Lewis, one of several semi-celebrity cameos are consistently ineffective.

Thanks to his amazingly loyal agent (Jon Lovitz), Dickie gets his last best chance at a comeback when he interviews for the lead in an upcoming movie directed by Rob Reiner (whos perfectly cast as himself). Trouble is, the role calls for someone capable of playing a well-rounded grownup. During his child-star heyday, Dickie completely missed out on the basic fundamental of adulthood which is childhood.

Undeterred, Dickie prepares for the part by casting himself in a rerun of his youth. He sets out to adopt an average suburban family, figuring he can learn everything about normal childhood by living as a child for two months with some happy clan.